We had heard from several fellow travellers that Vietnam was a beautiful, enriching country full of wonderful, friendly people and delicious food. Based on these glowing recommendations, we decided to stop off in Vietnam for a week or so and see what the country had in store. As we did some research however, we read more than a few accounts which indicated that Vietnam was home to some of the meanest people the authors had ever met, their only joy in life scamming, or outright pickpocketing, unsuspecting tourists. After absorbing these differing accounts, we really had no idea what to expect as we set down in Hanoi. Fortunately, our experience was very much the former. The scamming culture was about as bad as Thailand, which is to say that you have to be on your guard. However, the amazing people and sights we encountered quickly put these concerns aside.
We made it through immigration unscathed, and much faster than anticipated. After a 40 minute drive to our hostel, we hopped out from the car and saw what seemed like it would be a spectacular lake in the middle of the city, shrouded in darkness. Exhausted from the days’ travel, we didn’t do much besides check in to the hostel and fall asleep.
The next morning, we were still a little dazed, but were determined to accomplish at least one mission: find that most iconic of Vietnamese dishes (at least in the US): Phở. This turned out to be a relatively easy mission, and required us to walk roughly half a block before finding a streetside restaurant selling the popular breakfast food for 40,000 Vietnamese Dong (VND), or little less than 2 USD. Yes, Pho is a breakfast food in Vietnam, and yes, that was 40 thousand Dong. Inflation has taken quite a toll on the Vietnamese currency. 22,000 VND = 1 USD, so we were regularly dealing with sums in the millions. Seeing all those zeros took some getting used to!
Well fortified, we began wandering the streets of Hanoi. The lake which we saw the evening before was Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, home to the Turtle Tower. It was indeed spectacular, and we spent the majority of the afternoon people watching while walking around it. The streets around the lake were closed for the day since it was a Sunday, and part of it was teeming with kids in Power Wheels careening around while their parents looked on.
While sitting on one of the park benches around the lake, we were approached by a kid who asked if he could practice his English. We learned his name was Tai, that he was 9 years old, loved Minecraft, and had a better command of English than some native speakers! Once the introductions were completed, Tai kindly proceeded to tutor Justin for about half an hour on how to actually pronounce Vietnamese words. Seeing a 9-year-old utterly bewildered at how badly someone could pronounce their native tongue was absolutely priceless. As we later found out, English students in Vietnam routinely go up to tourists, and ask if they can practice with them!
As this, and many subsequent afternoons faded to evening, we made our way to “Bia Corner,” a part of Hanoi famous for serving Bia Hoi - locally brewed beer, served from the draft, over ice cubes. There we not only encountered the unique nightlife of Hanoi, but some yummy food!
